We study the packing of a large number of congruent and non-overlapping circles inside a
regular polygon. We have devised efficient algorithms that allow one to generate …

A collection of thin structures buckle, bend, and bump into each other when confined. This
contact can lead to the formation of patterns: hair will self-organize in curls; DNA strands will …

Crumpling and folding of paper are at first sight very different ways of confining thin sheets in
a small volume: the former one is random and stochastic whereas the latest one is regular …

We find that in two dimensions wires can crumple into different morphologies and present
the associated morphological phase diagram. Our results are based on experiments with …

A variational framework is developed to examine the equilibrium states of a semiflexible
polymer that is constrained to lie on a fixed surface. As an application the confinement of a …

DNA in viral capsids, plant leaves in buds, and geological folds are examples in nature of
tightly packed low-dimensional objects. However, the general equations describing their …

We study the deformations of elastic filaments confined within slowly shrinking circular
boundaries, under contact forces with friction. We perform computations with a spring-lattice …

We have studied experimentally and theoretically the response of randomly folded
hyperelastic and elastoplastic sheets on the uniaxial compression loading and the statistical …

Using a statistical-mechanics approach, we study the effects of geometry and self-avoidance
on the ordering of slender filaments inside nonisotropic containers, considering cortical …

X-ray tomography is performed to acquire 3D images of crumpled aluminum foils. We
develop an algorithm to trace out the labyrinthian paths in the three perpendicular cross …